The biggest strengths of conference calls lie mainly in its functionality and efficiency. It allows your team and partnering teams to come together and discuss relevant topics in a convenient setting that works for everyone, despite being in different locations and sometimes hours apart. Lately, however, the common conference call seems to come with several technical flaws that deter its members’ path to productivity and success. Most of the time, you’ll find your conference call to be dragging, you have a hard time hearing what others on the call are saying, or you’re just unfamiliar with how to join the call in the first place. Instead of dealing with these technical nuisances, make sure your team members are following proper phone etiquette to keep conference calls a productive meeting space for everyone.
Here are the best phone-handling tips to enhance your conference call experience:
- Mute yourself when you’re not talking – If you prefer to absorb info during your calls and you’re not the main leader of the discussion, it’s more helpful to mute yourself until you have something to say. This way, you can focus on taking notes and any background noise in your location will stay out of the discussion.
- Avoid speakerphone – Unless you’re with a group of people that also need to be on the call, speakerphone tends to create an echo in the background that could disturb the other callers. Staying off speakerphone also allows you to speak more clearly on the call and will prevent any time wasted over having to repeat yourself because someone couldn’t hear you.
- End incoming calls – If you receive another incoming call during your conference, make sure to end it immediately. If not, the other members of your conference could hear your “call waiting” beep and the call will slow down due to the distraction.
- Set reminders – Add the meeting time to your calendar and set a reminder on your phone a few minutes early to make sure you access the call on time. If you are using a new online communicating tool and try to access the call right as the meeting starts, you could be late due to being unfamiliar with the service.
- Come up with an agenda – Especially if you are organizing the call, make sure to type up a quick agenda of the meeting’s priorities and include it in the meeting invitation. Make sure everyone on the call is aware of the order of topics to be discussed to keep the call on schedule and to avoid it being longer than it needs to be.
The days for faulty and awkward conference calls are over. Make sure your team is making use of these helpful phone etiquette tips for more productive and helpful meetings.